How long have you lived in the district? Three years. Before that, I moved around a lot while serving in the military.

Education: Juris Doctor from the University of Denver, master's degree in international relations and bachelor's degree in social science

Professional background: Army Ranger for 4½ years, earning a combat parachute badge in Panama in December 1989. Worked in finance for six years. In 2002, joined the Air Force to train pilots on survival skills. Work with at-risk youth and serve as an advocate for battered women. Just accepted a job with a small law firm in Denver.

Political experience: None

Who is your hero?FDR for leading America in a time of great need for a leader.

Tell us something unusual about yourself that few people know:I met my best man, Shawn, in a fight. I did some martial arts during law school to release tension. Shawn served as the best man in my wedding, but when we first met, he had this incredibly irritating habit of strangling me. Shawn didn't want to take me head-on because I was a nationally ranked power lifter, so he usually got me in a headlock until I gave up.

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What is your favorite song?"Something in the Way she Moves" by James Taylor

Your favorite book?"Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you want with you?My wife, Carolee, my son, Drake, and a hammock.

Colorado ranks among the lowest in the nation for higher-education funding. What are your ideas for keeping higher education fiscally afloat?

I support the governor's efforts to give money to higher ed by repealing the severance tax handouts that Colorado has been giving to oil and gas companies over the last several years. I also support performing energy audits on all public higher education buildings and making sure we aren't throwing money away on wasteful buildings that should be made cleaner and cheaper to operate. Higher education is an investment, not merely a cost.

What's your stance on rules proposed by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission meant to limit the environmental impact of oil and natural gas development? What balance should the state strike between environmental responsibility and economic growth?

Our long-term goal should be to get off oil. However, if we clean up the oil industry in Colorado, fewer people will oppose drilling. Some fixes cost almost nothing, but there are some international companies that have decided to endanger the health of Coloradans in order to save minimal amounts of money. If these companies don't respect Coloradans' health and safety, we can find plenty of companies to drill in Colorado that do.

What are your plans to increase access to health care?

As an Army Ranger, we had an excellent publicly funded, privately administered health plan. Borrowing from that, I propose a statewide plan, administered privately, which will be optional for Coloradans who want to join it. Nobody will be denied, and assistance will be available to those who cannot afford it. If it's good enough for Colorado state senators, it should be good enough for everyone.

Do you support the existing Colorado Student Assessment Program, or are there changes you would like to see made to the program?

CSAP is the lazy way out of determining whether Colorado's children are getting a good education. We should no longer allow a laser scan to do what a person could do better, and for nearly the same cost. We no longer trust teachers and parents to know what's best for children. Impartial observers would be far more effective, and less disruptive. We should return to common sense instead of statistical nonsense.

Do you support the effort by House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and state Treasurer Cary Kennedy to modify the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights and Amendment 23 to allow lawmakers more flexibility in the budget?

The government should be strictly limited to protecting people. In order for the government to do that, it needs money most when times are worst. As it is, we are encouraging government to spend themselves broke in good times by returning whatever they don't spend. That doesn't help anyone. Speaker Romanoff understands these problems, and his efforts will help keep Colorado fiscally and physically secure.

Do you have a proposal to help the state pay for roads and other transportation infrastructure that some say are becoming increasingly under-funded?

This is a question of priorities. Roads, trains and airports make our economy tick. The history of Colorado is the history of a transportation hub. Although alternative transportation has higher front-end costs, focusing on developing a better transit system is how Broomfield and the Interstate 25 corridor can support garage-door entrepreneurship that makes a state like Colorado into a leader in the future.

What do you see as the major issue facing Colorado right now?

The prices of food, energy and housing are the biggest problems we face. We can bring the price of much of these things down by supporting a better public education system, fighting for cleaner and cheaper energy and giving small businesses a fighting chance. We can support small businesses in two big ways. We must give them the tax relief they need to get started, and we must provide affordable health care so that they can compete with larger corporations for employees.

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